She never thought she would be here, back in this place that she would really call her own personal hell. She hated this city, which was entirely ironic because at a time, she used to boast about loving it…

Laughing with a few friends as she stepped off the bus stop, quickly reaching down in her bag for her sunglasses, Elise Monroe sighed as she slipped them on to cover up the glare of the bright Los Angeles sun.

"End of senior year, the start of our adulthood lives…. Almost like a rebirth, chicas." Breathed out the girl next to her, Carmen Duran. Carmen's been her best friend since the two of them were in diapers.

"Speaking of adulthood and rebirth, my parents are already talking about me coming to work for them at the motel since I told them I'm taking a semester break before I go to college." Aliyah rolled her eyes and she scowled as she shook her head.

Meanwhile, Carmen and Elise simply laughed with amusement. "Girl that's because everyone knows a semester break turns into a year, then two, then nada." Elisa quipped in return.

"Nada mama!" Carmen yelled out in reference to the Cheetah Girls.

Aliyah scoffed, "Well they don't need to know that." She said and the three friends burst into a fit of giggles.

"Ayo Hermosa!"

Elise tipped her glasses down and turned her head in the direction of the call. Standing in front of the a shaded tree, was her boyfriend, Oscar Diaz. The same red herse lounged out in front of him, indicating that he had been waiting for her to get off the bus.

"Oooh you better go Elise, don't wanna keep booboo waiting." Aliyah quipped.

"Yeah, you know his panties get tight." Carmen.

Elise scoffed and pushed Carmen slightly since she was closest to her. "Shut up." The two of them loved picking on Oscar the same way he was quick to get back with them.

"Mhm… come on Liyah, let's hit the mall." Carmen said, the two girls conjoined arms and began walking.

"See you Elise. Bye poopoo, I mean booboo!" Aliyah called to Oscar.

As Elise walked across the street to get closer to her boyfriend, she noticed his eye roll and the middle finger raised towards the girls. "How was school?" Oscar asked as she got close enough for him to reach forward and grab her, Elise grinned as she was tugged closer and she leaned up to press a gentle kiss to his lips.

"You would know, if you had came." Elise murmured against his lips before she pulled back. Staring at him, she noticed he looked a little conflicted as if he was contemplating something. "It's the last day of the first day of our lives, Oscar, people bidding us off to college. You should've came." She said with a frown. "We won't even be home until Thanksgiving when we leave for school in a few weeks." She and Oscar were going to the same school. Both of them had a great gift for cooking, and while he preferred to cook Latin foods, she dibbed and dabbed everywhere. It came from having a mother and father who enjoyed cooking quite a lot as well.

A sigh left his lips, and Elise reached up to run her finger along his bottom lip. "Baby? Spook? Wh… what happened? You texted me this morning saying you weren't going to be able to pick me up and that was it. I expected you to be late, not just not show up." She murmured with a frown.

"Yeah yeah… hey come on, get in the car, lets go for a ride." Oscar murmured, kissing her lips again and opening the passenger door for her. Elise looked at him a little uneasy as she stepped into the car and he closed the door behind her.

Elise watched him as he crossed to the other side of the car and slid in. He was silent as he reached down between the seats and held up a Starbucks cup for her. She didn't have to ask to know what flavor it was. Strawberry lemonade, that's all she liked. She was drinking it the day they met. She took a sip from the cup and sighed as he drove off.

They rode in silence for a few minutes, Oscar tapping on his phone a bit as he drove, and Elise just wondering what the hell happened. Oscar was always silent, but never this silent.

"Baby… talk to me. Please?" Elise asked quietly.

Oscar sucked in a breath, glancing over at her. "I'm not going."

Elise blinked, staring at him with a confused look on her face, before shrugging. "Not going where? Home tonight? That's fine Spook, it's not the first time you've slept over, my parents know that by now-"

"Elise." Oscar pulled over in front of a park and he put the car in park. He turned to look her, reaching forward to take her hand, but Elise held it up to stop him. "Don't make me say it…"

She stared at him longer then, her teeth clenching and unclenching, before she shook her head. "Why not…?" She finally asked.

"I can't, alright?" Oscar said as he leaned back in his seat. "I've been thinking about it…. When my dad went to jail… Elise baby there's no one here to take care of Cesar the way he did, we've been holding out going into Foster Care because my mom is still around and I've been stealing her cash to get us stuff from the store. I've been doing it for years now. And between that and your parents… Cesar and I haven't had to worry, but now? … I-I gotta step up." He explained. "My mom ain't gone treat him right."

Her heart tugged thinking of Oscar's younger brother who was nothing but twelve at the moment. Elise shook her head. "You can't throw away your chance at college, Oscar."

"I ain't leaving Cesar here to fend for himself like I did when our dad went away, you know I ain't." Oscar replied sharply.

Elise gulped down a lump in her throat, "Then bring him with us." She suggested. "We can… we can get an apartment, put him in school there, we can figure something out." She said, reaching across the console to grab his hands.

He looked like he was contemplating it, like he was easily considering it, but then he shook his head. "I'm not going to do that to you. And my mom would never sign away rights like that. She may not be around to care for us, but she's a greedy puta who won't agree to something like that. She loves us being miserable."

Elise frowned, shaking her head again. She knew he was right, she had only seen his mother once or twice and that was in passing. His mother was a bitch. And for no reason at all accept that she was. "I…" She breathed out a sigh, pulling her hands away when she felt them getting clammy and she rubbed them against those jeans. "Fine… then I'll… I'll just have to come back on the weekends to visit. Make sure you and Cesar are okay…" She trailed off, seeing the look on his face. She didn't like that look, in fact, she hated it. She knew that look. She had experienced it before.

"El-"

"Don't." Elise snapped at him. "Oscar I swear to god, don't." She hissed quietly. "I can do that, okay? We'll make it work."

"Maybe… but I ain't about to put you through that." Oscar said quietly. "It's time for you to leave Freeridge, do what you've been wanting to do for years now."

"What we both have been wanting to do pendejo." Elise could feel the tears threatening to spill, the lump was there in her throat.

He laughed a short and bitter laugh, "You're working on your Spanish." He murmured. He used to tease her about not knowing Spanish even though she was surrounded back Hispanic and Latinos her entire life. Even her parents felt the need to learn a bit of Spanish as well. So he started teaching her, small words and common phrases. Even gave her a book last year to practice when they weren't together, which was rare. Oscar did things for Elise that he said he'd never do for anyone before. That was just them. So she didn't understand why he wouldn't allow her to do this for him.

"I love you." He said quietly.

Elise's breath caught in her throat, gaze snapping up to meet his even behind the sunglasses. The sunglasses that were supposed to be hiding every emotion in her right now. He never said it, never uttered those three words in the entire two years they've been together. She never made him, those words always hit close to home for him and she didn't want to put pressure on him.

Those three words broke the dam. I had no right. The tears slid down hot and furious, stinging her eyes as they hit her jeans below her. She reached across the console before she was thinking and threw the drink at him. "I hate you." She breathed the word out, stepping out of the vehicle, she stumbled furiously as she slammed the door behind her. She didn't look back, not when he called her name. Not when the engine started and she heard the car behind her. She walked and walked until she got home, and even then, the car was still following her. Because that was Oscar, always making sure she made it home safely…

Elise stared at the house as she passed it in her car, the tented windows prevented anyone from looking inside. The house was the same. Looked the same from those two years before. There was a group of men outside, and she'd know that group anywhere. The Santos. Her grip tightened on the wheel and she straightened up in her seat. She shook her head, noticing the man sitting on a chair in the yard. Oscar…. She was tempted to stop the car, but like hell was she going to allow him to see her. She never wanted to see him again, and yet… she was here. Home. She continued driving.